al; but the east end is adorned with an unusual profusion
of sculpture. The transept is separated from the eastern extremity of
the building, by a space no greater than would suffice for one of the
arches; and its ends form the lines, which being prolonged, constitute
the backs of the chapels. The royal arms, supported by spread eagles,
are repeated five times on each end-wall; separated respectively by
statues of saints in their niches, and surmounted by a profusion of rich
tracery. These subjects entirely cover the walls to a height of about
forty feet, at which elevation another inscription in honour of the
founders runs round the whole interior. The transepts not being formed
by open arches, the sides afford space for a repetition of the same
ornament, until at their junction with the nave they are terminated by
two half-piers covered with tracery, and surmounted by semi-octagonal
balconies, beneath which the initials of Ferdinand and Isabella, made to
assume a fancy shape, and surmounted by coronets, are introduced with
singularly graceful effect.

But the chief attraction of this ruin is the cloister. A small
quadrangle is surrounded by an ogival or pointed arcade, enriched with
all the ornament that style is capable of receiving. It encloses a
garden, which, seen through the airy-web of the surrounding tracery,
must have produced in this sunny region a charming effect. At present,
one side being in ruins and unroofed, its communication with the other
three has been interrupted; and, whether or not in the idea of
preserving the other sides from the infection, their arches have been
closed nearly to the top by thin plaister walls. Whatever may have been
the motive of this arrangement, it answers the useful purpose of
concealing from the view a gallery which surmounts the cloister, the
arches of which would neutralize the souvenirs created by the rest of
the scene, since they announce a far different epoch of art, by the
grievous backsliding of taste evinced in their angular form and uncouth
proportions.

[Illustration: CLOISTER OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES, TOLEDO.]

Until the destruction of the monastery by the French, the number of
monks was very considerable; and in consequence of the unusual
privileges accorded to their body, had become the objects of especial
veneration. A curious proof of this still exists in the form of a
printed paper, pasted on one of the doors in the interior of the church,
and no doubt pr